


Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On

by virdant



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-09
Updated: 2011-09-09
Packaged: 2017-10-23 13:45:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/250955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virdant/pseuds/virdant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To Sherlock, Moriarty is a dream come true. Literally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Shakespeare's The Tempest. Thanks to [Trell](http://selkath.livejournal.com) for looking it over. And this is ~~not~~ for [Reii](http://reiicharu.livejournal.com) for finally watching Sherlock.

 

Moriarty is a dream come true.

John doesn’t understand that. He can’t. He’s not capable of it.

But Sherlock is. The moment that Sherlock hears Jefferson Hope implicate Moriarty as his sponsor, he realizes just what Moriarty is.

*

 _Dear Moriarty_ , Sherlock writes in impeccable penmanship when he’s eight. He can already see Moriarty in his head.

Moriarty will be Sherlock’s best friend. Moriarty is the only person smart enough to keep up with Sherlock. The only person who can challenge him. Sherlock and Moriarty, they’ll change the world.

“Imaginary friends are so pedestrian,” Mycroft says scornfully.

Sherlock doesn’t say anything. Just writes his letter, folds it, and dreams.

*

In Sherlock’s first dream, they develop the cure to cancer in research laboratories. They market it, save thousands upon thousands of lives, and in the moonlight, their faces glow with triumph.

Moriarty, Sherlock realizes, is just as smart as him.

In Sherlock’s second dream, they go to the moon. And then all around the earth, building colonies after colonies in each of the Lagrange points. They re-build society to be better: stronger, smarter, safer.

Sherlock wakes in the morning with a smile on his face. Moriarty, he thinks, is brilliant.

He dreams every evening. Dreams of emptying the asylums after studying mind after mind. Dreams of cities made entirely of steel, and teleportation pads scattered around the world. Dreams of a network encompassing everything, so that he only has to reach out to see Moriarty, even if he’s half-way across the world.

Every day, Sherlock sits in class and stares blankly at a chalkboard. The teacher has nothing important to say. Nobody has anything important to say. They’re all so tediously dull.

He thinks of Moriarty sitting next to him whispering, _We’ll be great, Sherlock_.

 _Yes_ , Sherlock agrees. _We will_.

*

Sherlock writes letters to Moriarty. They start with _Dear Moriarty_ and end with _Sherlock Holmes_. He writes them in his best penmanship (because best friends deserve the best) and covers pages after pages with neatening script.

Mycroft finds the letters. Of course Mycroft would find the letters. But instead of telling Mummy or Dad, Mycroft simply holds them to flames one by one, and Sherlock seethes as Mycroft burns away Moriarty.

“We could be great,” Sherlock says furiously. “Moriarty is _brilliant_.”

“Moriarty doesn’t exist,” Mycroft replies. “You’re twelve now, Sherlock. It’s time to stop dreaming of imaginary friends.”

“I won’t,” Sherlock snaps, but he watches Mycroft burn the letters. “I won’t.”

*

He stops.

*

There are letters that Mycroft didn’t find. Sherlock burns half of those and bins the other half, throwing them waddled up in trash bins all around London.

And then he goes home, closes his eyes, and dreams.

*

In Sherlock’s last dream, they release a virus into the world and watch as it kills everybody. Sherlock wakes, gasping, as Moriarty laughs and whispers, _Look at them run, Sherlock. Like tiny ants scrambling for life. Just look at them, Sherlock. We’re the ones in control now._

He deletes Moriarty the next morning.

*

Jim is ten when he finds the letter in the trash.

 _Dear Moriarty,_

 _Can you fix it for me, please?_

 _Fix it so the world isn’t so tediously dull?_

 _-Sherlock Holmes._

( _Yes_. Moriarty replies. _Of course I will_.)


End file.
